PCL employees share mental-health stories in May

PCL Construction Ltd. is encouraging its employees to talk about their mental-health journeys and take breaks when they need it during the month of May.

Employees can share their stories on the company’s WellPCL internal blog, which is promoted and shared by the company’s human resources department.

“They range from, ‘I’m a superintendent on a job and this was my [mental-health] experience’ to ‘my daughter has anxiety and this is how we’ve been trying to deal with it,’” says Mike Olsson, PCL’s vice-president of HR and professional development. “It’s just giving people a different outlet to talk about it and we get lots of hits and lots of positive feedback.”

PCL also shares card games, colouring sheets and puzzles around its campuses. While the break spaces are available year-round, the company is upping their promotion this month to remind employees to take breaks out of their workday when they need one.

“During the workday, it’s OK to take a break and get reset,” says Olsson.

To support mental health in May, the company is also giving out green ribbons across its campuses and employees can post pictures or videos sporting them. “It’s not just coming from us. The posts come in from our employees,” he says.

The focus on employee mental health is part of PCL’s WellPCL program, which hosts a series of events and programs throughout the year. Each month has its own theme, based around the company’s seven dimensions of wellness: emotional, physical, intellectual, environmental, occupational, social and spiritual.